Recycling and Social Responsibility - Term Paper Example

Recycling Introduction Recycling is the process of collecting waste materials and remanufacture in to new products. Enormous amount of waste that is being disposed in the waste lands and garbage is reduced with the process of recycling. The amount of discarded materials can be potentially useful resources. Recycling is regarded as the pivotal component for waste reduction. The reduction of waste materials enables to reduce water pollution, air pollution and energy usage. The incineration of waste materials in landfills can lead to global warming. The emission of harmful gases from combustion of waste materials from waste lands createspollution. The recycling is third component of waste management hierarchy. Recently in many countries, there have an upsurge in sense of interest and awareness on environment. The lessening of valuable resources enabled countries to focus on recycling of renewable resources. The preservation of valuable resources can be done by application of recycling process. The ethical advantage of recycling ignited the implementation of the process for lessening of several environmental issues and global warming. Huge amount of money that is used by municipal for the process of collection of wasteand cost of landfilling can be nullified by the process of recycling. This research paper will analyze and discuss about the optimum use of recycling process for the removal of environmental issues and preservation of valuable resources. Analysis The process of recycling is to convert waste discarded materials in to new products. The decline of wastage of energy is one of the advantages of recycling. In the year 1970, it has been found out that 23% of the paper production is done from recycling process. This percentage of recycling process of paper manufactured is increased to 50 % in recent years. It has been revealed from Paper Recycling Association of South Africa that a ton of waste paper that is being recycled can help to save in approx. 17 trees. This resembled the benefits of execution of recycling process. In the year 2002, it has been surveyed that about 48,500 tons of steel cans are being recycled. In United Sates, the amount of materials which is being recycled is 82 million tons. There are many organizations that have implemented the process of recycling to nullify the environment issues. The process of recycling has also benefited organization to maintain ethical workplace. Coca-Cola is one of the organizations that have benefited from the process of recycling. There are several initiatives organizedfor the benefit of organization and environment. Coca-Cola spent around 44 million dollars for construction of new recycling plant. The construction of new plant enables to recycle old plastic bottle in to recycled new plastic bottle. In the year 2014, Coca-Cola Founded funder $ 350,000 grant to Big Grant program. This program is initiated and designed for supporting and expansion of process of recycling. This recycling process is done throughout the United States. The Recycling Big Grant Program has recycled more than 34,000 bins from the year 2010. In the year 2008, it is expected in each year more than 100 million polyethylene terephthalate plastic will be recycled. In 2007, plan has been developed for building 9 centralized recycling centers in United States. This plan of recycling centers will enormously increase the amount of waste garbage that is being recycled. Sustainable development of the organization can be maintained by the implementation of effective process of recycling and packaging. 570 million PET bottles are being recycled each and every year in Austria. Coca-Cola serves 28 countries. And out of 28 countries, systems are placed in 19 countries. This ensures to recycle more than 64% of the waste generated (Davis, 1992). There are many initiatives that are introduced by Coca-ColaCompany which are recycling for the future, Nigeria Pet recycling and Future Centre trust. Coca-ColaCompany allotted 6 million dollars of curbside recycling programs in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Pet bottles are recycled with the collaboration of Coca-Cola Company and Alkem Nigeria Limited. This collaboration helped to recycled PET bottles in to recycled bottles. For the year 2005 to 2012, it have been surveyed around 6,300 tons of bottles are recycled and generated from the introduction of program by Coca-Cola. The introduction of branded recycle zones enables to increase the amount of products that are being recycled. These zones provide opportunity for consumers to put their empty bottles. The effective use of Recycled zones is enabled by working with other organization Recoup and WRAP. Future Center Trust is another program which is initiated by Coca-Cola. The aim of this program is to build recycled center and focus of providing environmental education. The project assisted people to know about the change in climatic condition due to increase in global warming. This can be reduce the applying the method of recycling. The focus of trust is to provide education to the people about the advantage of recycling in the local community and environment. Wal-Mart is another multinational company implements the process of recycling for the nullifying the environment issue and benefit organization. The pivotal goal of Coca-Cola is to ensure zero waste. This can be possible by the application of recycling process and application of several programs for the prevention of waste disposal to landfills. 80% of the solid wastes are being recycled by Wal-Mart in the year 2011. In the year 2012, it has been displayed that 3.1 billion plastic bags are recycled. Wal-Mart initiated new systems of diversion which are basically from food waste. This system helps to reduce the amount of foot waste disposed. Wal-Mart implements zero waste strategy. Many materials are redirected from landfills which are 120 million pound of plastic materials, 18.9 plastic hanger materials, 1.3 million pound materials made of aluminum and 11.6 million pound of mixed paper. In the year 2013, the goal of Wal-Mart was to reduce the weight of plastic bags in to 33%. PEPSICO is another global multinational company that puts huge emphasis on recycling and social responsibility. Recycling process can help to maintain ethical workplace for the benefit of organization. Many initiatives implemented to focus on water, energy and recycling. PEPSICO recover plastic bottles and recycle in to new manufactured bottles. North America has been provided with more than 5,000 recycle systems. From the start of the year 20010 till present date, more than 196 million of beverage containers are being recycled in the centers. The initiatives implemented by PEPSICO to increase the post-industrial packaging and upsurge the amount of recycled products for packaging. The important factor of recycled products can be viewed by one of the unique brand which is Burton. This is one of the brands which use recycled plastic bottles to produce in to fabrics. This recycled fabrics are used in their garments and clothing. Around 50% of the t-shirts are manufactured by using recycling of plastic bottles and organic cotton. This resembles the benefit of recycling. Despite producing t-shirt and garments, new types of apparels and outwear are manufactured by recycling. New apparels and outwear were launched in the year 2013. Environmental sustainability by implementation of effective recycling process is the key aim of PEPSICO. Products are developed by water recycling. The manufacturing facility of PEPSICO does not send any waste materials to the landfills. All waste materials are recycled to make new products. By the year 2018, the rate of recycled beverage contained in United Sates should be increased to 50% and more (Hall, 2004). Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the most renowned brands in the automobile industry. Toyota Motor Corporation has also benefited by application of recycling processes. The environmental sustainability is maintained by Toyota by application of several initiatives. Toyota Motor Corporation created Dedicated Recycling Center in Japan. The main aim of the center is to find and introduce new technique for recovery of dismantle vehicle in to new product. Toyota Motor Corporation introduced several guidelines for the benefit of environment. This guideline s is introduced for dealers and sales companies to follow recycling activities. In the year 2013, Toyota Motor Corporation was honored for recent recycling events. Recycle of hybrid vehicle components are been the main focal point of Toyota Motor Corporation in recent years. The production of hybrid components by recycling is sold worldwide. The total amount of hybrid vehicles of Toyota Motor Corporation and Lexus that have been sold is 5.7 million (Green, 2005). These stats are revealed in the year 2013. Tires, plastics and batteries are the materials that are being recycled by several programs initiated by Toyota Motor Corporation. Bumper for automobile are recycled in to new. NiMH car batteries are recycled by Toyota Motor Corporation. These batteries can be used in hybrid cars. This innovative process of recycling NiMH batteries in to new car batteries can help to maintain environment sustainability. FedEx is one of the largest courier companies in the world. Recycling process is one of the key essential for FedEx. Several recycling programs are initiated by FedEx for the benefit of organization and environment. There have been increased efforts for application of recycling process. There are several recycling programs that are initiated by FedEx which are FedEx express, FedEx services and FedEx Corporation. The main aim of these recycling programs is to recycle as more materials as possible rather than dumping in to wastelands. These programs also provide knowledge to people about the benefits of recycling in the society and environment. Organization can be benefitted by the increase in awareness among people. Many recycle zones are created by FedEx to provide opportunity for people to dispose their garbage on recycle zones rather than of wasteland and dustbins. FedEx reveals that more than 5.3 million pound of solid waste, metal and plastic is recycled. FedEx introduced Ground Green Program. This program helped FedEx to recycle 44.8 million pound of paper, solid waste, plastic and metals. Discussion The positive benefit of recycling cannot be neglected. It creates significant impact on environment and society. Some of the pivotal benefits of implementation of recycling process is it saves natural resources, creates jobs, saves energy and supply key raw materials. Kinds of materials that are recycled can be of many kinds such as electronics, paper, glass, plastic and metal. Recycling can also be reuse of biodegradable waste. Greenhouse gas can be lowered by the application of recycling. The importance of recycling is fundamental for the benefit of environment and people. The cost-effectiveness of the use of recycling process is vital for the application of several recycling programs implemented by government. It has been stated by Environmental Protection Agency that only 30% of the waste materials are being recycled in America (Stem, 1994). The ratio of recycling is minimal. But over the period of time, the percentage of recycling is gradually increasing by looking at its positive advantage over environment. The use of natural resources during the process of remanufacturing is negligible. It has also been stated by Environmental Protection Agency that huge number of solid waste that are disposed in landfills can lead to the diminishing of environment. Environmental sustainability is pivotal for the survival of human beings. It has also been found out the, the implementation of recycling process enables to reduce air pollution by 74% and water pollution by 35%. This percentage of reduction of pollution is revealed by Environmental Protection Agency. Several natural resources are being eliminated. The application of recycling can help to save natural resources which are vital for future. It can also help to create jobs and reduce unemployment. 1.25 million People are employed in the recycling industry. This has been studied by United Sates Recycling Economic Information. The increase in focus on recycling industry can create more 10,000 jobs in U.K. Enormous mount of tax revenue can also be generated by application of recycling. It can also help to save trees. 17 trees can be saved by recycling of every ton of newspaper. Fossil fuels and other natural resources can be saved by application of recycling. Conclusion This can be concluded that recycling process is pivotal for every organization to deal with the environmental issues. The large number of solid waste that is being disposed in waste land can be reduced by the application of recycling process. The emission of greenhouse gas can be reduced by recycling. Huge amount of energy can be saved by recycling. Recycling of aluminum cans can help to save 96% of energy. The lessening of non-renewable and valuable resources can be prevented by recycling. The rise in emission of greenhouse gas is basically due to the reduction of number of trees globally. The process of recycling has become beneficiary factor for every organization due to its humongous benefits of reduction of pollution and maintaining environmental sustainability. References Davis, J. (1992). “Ethics and Environmental Marketing”. Journal of Business Ethics, 61(5), 23. Green, J. (2005). Recycling. London: Black Rabbit Books. Hall, E. (2004). Recycling. New York: Kidhaven. Stem, P. (1994). “The Value Basis of Environmental Concern”. Journal of Social Issues, 12(2), 16. Read More